A Darkening World
by lironelle
Summary: Full Plot Inside. Takes place at the start of the Epilogue of book seven. A dark wizard discovers how to raise the dead. Calanthe starts wizarding school. Many characters to return: Tom Riddle, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and many others. Not slash.
1. Plot

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**---Plot---**

Nineteen years ago, Harry Potter vanquished the Dark Lord Voldemort. In the years that followed, many things changed. The Ministry of Magic became more lawful and open with its people, and most citizens of the magical community became a bit more tolerant of those who entered the magical community from outside. But there were still those who didn't think that the secrets of magic should be shared with anyone from the outside world.

But those malcontents didn't have anything they could do about it. They had no leader, no one to rally around... until a certain discovery made by the department of mysteries changed everything: how to bring those who were lost back from the dead. Now, it's discoverer, a man called Henry McDuvon, has started a plot to raise up all those who ever supported Muggle oppression back from the dead in order to help him wipe out all Muggle-Borns even before they know they are magical.

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**---Author's Note---**

Hey and thanks for reading! I hope you like it =] Since I really appreciate feedback in order to improve my writing, I be really grateful if you'd review. If you don't, though, it's no biggie. Other than that… well… you'll just have to read and see. Enjoy,

~Kit


	2. Prologue

**A Darkening World**

**Prologue**

_Fifteen Years Ago_

Light flickered on the walls. Jerome McDuffle sat back in his rocking chair and drew in a long puff from his pipe. He let it out slowly, and smoke filled the darkened room. It had been grand once, but its grandeur had been leeched away with time. Tattered drapes hung like ghosts from the windows and the paper was watermarked and hung off the walls. The furniture was rickety with age and covered with dust. Except the rocking chair in which Jerome sat.

Jerome himself was in his late sixties, although so far that hadn't affected the power of his figure or the command of his gaze. His hair was silvery grey and his eyes were hazel and overshadowed by thick eyebrows. He was old – there was no denying that – but he was powerful too.

Suddenly, there was a scuffling sound outside the room. It grew closer and closer. Jerome froze, though whether it was with anticipation or fear it was hard to say. Then, a man leapt into the room. He was covered in rags, and he glanced around the room wildly before his eyes settled on Jerome in his rocking chair.

"Good evening, Mr. Finch," Jerome said coolly.

"Um, good evening," said the ragged Mr. Finch. He looked up at Jerome quickly before glancing away.

Jerome ignored this and gazed intently at Mr. Finch before asking him quietly, "Did you collect the information I was looking for?" His voice was deep and rough.

Mr. Finch stared at his shoes, unable or perhaps afraid to look at the man in front of him. "Yes Sir. Yes I did."

"All of it?"

Mr. Finch nodded hurriedly.

Jerome leaned forwards, eyes now very intent. He was excited. "Do tell."

As Mr. Finch began to explain, Jerome sat back in his chair and listened. Things were much worse than he had thought. Much worse. Not impossible to deal with though, if the information he was receiving was correct.

When he was finished, Mr. Finch looked timidly up at Jerome. "May I ask, Sir, what you intend to do?"

Jerome looked Mr. Finch dead in the eye now, and it was clear that Mr. Finch found it hard not to look away. "I intend," he said, "to wait. Thank you for keeping me informed, Mr. Finch, but it appears that for the time being we can except to wait for these events to unfold. Thank you for securing this information for me. That will be all."

It was a clear dismissal. Mr. Finch began to drag his feet towards the door.

"Oh, and Mr. Finch?" Jerome said to his back.

Mr. Finch turned, looked at over his shoulder at Jerome.

"If you come across any more information concerning this, or indeed anything of interest, be sure to contact me." Jerome stared at him hard as he said it.

"Yes Sir, yes of course," said Mr. Finch. He thought though, privately, that if he kept feeding someone like Jerome McDuffle information, he would lucky not to end up dead.


	3. Hogwarts

**Chapter One: Hogwarts**

_Fifteen Years Later – Present Day_

Calanthe Rogers closed her bedroom door with a loud slam that shook the house. Struggling, she turned and tried hard to lock the door before her brother, Michael, caught up with her. Her fingers had just brushed the lock when a large force lurched against the door from the outside. Mike hadn't even bothered to try knocking, just thrown himself at the door. Mike was three years older than Calanthe, who was eleven, making him fourteen years old and much stronger than she was.

Using the moment when Mike withdrew for another attack at the door, Calanthe shot the bolt into the lock. The door shuddered against Mike's new attack, but it did not give. Calanthe let her body slide to the floor against the opposite wall and sighed.

She let her eyes close briefly, trying to remember what had started them fighting this time. It was something about what she had said when a friend of his came over the other week… the trouble was, Calanthe couldn't even remember what she had said. The fact was, ever since her brother had turned fourteen years old he had been aggressive in his attempts to be cool – attempts, he said, that she was ruining. Calanthe sighed and glanced around the room. She knew that soon her brother would tire of throwing himself against the door of her bedroom and go find something else to do until she came out – something Calanthe did not intend to do until their parents got home.

Calanthe could remember a time when she and her brother had been friends – or at least, a time when they had not been enemies or a time when her existence had not been a total embarrassment to him. Calanthe wished things would go back to the way things were, but according to her brother, she was weird. Just plain weird.

Mike wasn't the first person to consider Calanthe weird. The term had first been applied to her by her Kindergarten teacher. Calanthe had found it hard to make friends with her classmates in Kindergarten, and so she had turned to the fairies that played in the school gardens. The trouble was, no one else could see the fairies. Her teacher had recommended counseling. After a while, Calanthe had learned to convince herself that the strange creatures she had called fairies were only butterflies – it was dangerous to think anything else. There had been quite a few incidents of that sort. And there was also the fact that Calanthe could heal unnaturally quickly. When she had broken her leg in three places in the third grade after falling out of a tree, she was better in a week. The doctor had looked at her as though she was some sort of a phenomenon and asked her mother if he could 'run a few tests,' on her; her mother had firmly refused.

Sometimes, Calanthe thought that she could make things happen just by thinking about them. Her brother's friend Jacob had been teasing her once about not having any friends, and then a tree limb had suddenly fallen on him. He had been rushed to the hospital and it turned out he only had a mild concussion, but Calanthe hadn't been able sleep that night. She was absolutely terrified of what she had done.

And so she had grown up this way; not quite accepted by the people around her and yet not quite shunned. The truth was, although Calanthe wouldn't admit it to herself, that she was very lonely.

She leaned back against her mattress and eventually she fell into an uneasy sleep. She awoke several hours later when there was a knocking sound at her door.

"Calanthe?" asked her Mother.

Calanthe blinked a couple of times to clear her eyes, and then she got up and opened the door. Her mother was standing there with a worried expression.

"Calanthe, did you apply to any boarding schools without telling your father and I?" her Mom asked.

She paused, genuinely shocked. "No," she said truthfully.

"Well," said her mother, "there's a man downstairs called Neville Longbottom. He says he's a teacher at a boarding school called Hogwarts, and that you've been accepted to go there."

Calanthe's head was spinning. She had never heard of any place called Hogwarts. She didn't know what to say.

Calanthe's mother looked at her worriedly.

"I suppose I should go talk to him," Calanthe said, slightly dazed. She went to walk downstairs. Calanthe's mother watched her go, wondering if her daughter was being quite truthful about not having applied to this school, and, more importantly, whether her daughter really wanted to leave home.

Neville Longbottom sat on the Roger family's sofa drinking a cup of tea that had been graciously (he thought) provided by Calanthe's mother. He looked around the room for any signs that might give him a clue to what sort of people lived in this house. One of the first things he noticed was that everything here was neat and clean. Colors were tastefully chosen for the walls and furniture, and the room was filled with light. There were photographs on the walls, showing family of four. Neville stood up and went over to the nearest photo (which he was amused to see was not moving) and peered closely at it. The children it showed were small, so the photo must have been taken quite some time ago. It was of a girl and a boy playing at the beach. The boy was probably around five years old and he sat partially in the water with a pile of sand in front of him, clearly in the act of building it higher. It wasn't the boy who held his attention. It was the girl, around two years old, who was sitting opposite him, clearly helping shape the pile of sand her brother had created into a castle. He scanned the walls for a more recent photo of Calanthe, and caught sight of one only a few feet away. It showed a girl with dirty blond hair sitting on a swing hanging from a tree. She was wearing thin, oval-framed glasses and had very pale skin. She was very petite in figure. Neville noticed that she wasn't looking at the camera, but at the ground a few feet away from herself. Neville became engrossed in looking at the photos around the room. He wanted to be a little better prepared for what to expect from this girl – Professor McGonagall's files on her had been limited, to say the least.

In the days since she had become Headmistress, Professor McGonagall had developed a new system for how to break the news to Muggleborn students that they were, in fact, Witches and Wizards. A member of the staff went to the homes of these students and explained it to them and their families. This was easier than just sending the letter and asking for permission to visit – sometimes the Parents of the child in question would simply become scared or contemptuous at the idea of magic, and refuse the visit when the Witch or Wizard staff member came to call. Or else they would think that they were being scammed. After a while, Hogwarts had simply revised the system to give no warning to these families before coming.

Neville felt a tingling on the back of his neck and turned around. An eleven-year-old girl was sitting in a chair opposite the sofa, looking at him. She was dressed in Muggle clothes, and her hair hung loose. It was shorter than it had been in her picture, just brushing her shoulders. Her eyes, he noticed, were slightly watery and grey. He hadn't noticed that in the photos.

Slightly embarrassed that she had caught him peering so closely at her family's photos, Neville went to go and sit down on the sofa. He then leaned forwards and held out his hand. "Hello Calanthe, I'm Mr. Neville Longbottom," Neville said.

Calanthe's expression didn't change, although her eyes were interested. Her gaze made Neville slightly uncomfortable, although he didn't show it.

She held out her hand, "Nice to meet you," she said politely. "I'm Calanthe." Calanthe didn't know what to think. She was really curious about what this man was doing and about his school, but she was also a little wary; maybe it was the fact that she had never even heard of Hogwarts before or maybe it was that she hadn't applied to it… but it was also the strangeness of Mr. Longbottom himself. He was wearing a suit jacket over a pink polo shirt with swimming trunks and dress shoes. No wonder her mother had been so nervous! Calanthe wondered that her mother had worked up the courage to let him into the house!

"Now," said Mr. Longbottom, "perhaps your mother told you that I represent a school called Hogwarts, and that I am a teacher there?" He settled back against the sofa.

Calanthe nodded. "Yes," she said, "but I've never heard of it before."

It was Neville's turn to nod. "Well, you wouldn't have," he said. "You see, the existence of Hogwarts is somewhat of a secret."

"Wha…" Calanthe began, but Mr. Longbottom cut her off.

"Let me explain," he said.

Calanthe waited.

Neville sighed. He had tried to explain about Hogwarts before with mixed results; some of the children believed at once, others once he asked them to think of unusual things about them, and others only when he did magic in front of them. He never enjoyed the explanations.

"Let me see," said Neville. "Where to begin…" his voice trailed off for a moment while he collected his thoughts and shook them into order like a pack of cards. Calanthe just sat there, listening. It made Neville feel slightly pressured to begin. "Hogwarts is an unusual sort of school," he started. "You might have noticed that you didn't have to apply to go there – that is because no one does. No one can apply to attend Hogwarts. This is because not everyone is able to go there. Not everyone has… qualities that we are looking for. Some children are born into these… qualities. I'll just keep calling them that for the time being before I get into what these things, these abilities actually are. Well anyways, Hogwarts is quite an unusual place, filled with quite special people. And we're always keeping a lookout for children who fit these qualities. And you, Calanthe, do."

"What are they?" Calanthe asked. She was pretty curious, although the idea that people from some school had been stalking her was pretty scary. For some reason it didn't really worry her though.

Neville took a deep breathe; the moment of truth had arrived. "These children – like you – are, well, magical. They can do magic. Hogwarts is a school for these children and it teaches them to become Witches and Wizards."

Calanthe sat absolutely still. She hadn't been expecting that. Then, what he said caught up to her; this man was saying that she was a Witch! Was this a cruel joke? Would her brother really sink as low as to pay someone to make up some bogus story like this? But then she remembered Neville himself – he didn't seem like the sort of person who would do this kind of thing, but that didn't mean anything really. But for some reason, she couldn't shake off the feeling that this wasn't a joke.

Neville was watching her. At first, he saw her face tighten. But then, a thoughtful look crossed her face. "Have you ever made things happen that you can't explain?" he asked her quietly. "Things about you that are unusual?"

Calanthe realized in surprise that there were things like that about her. She looked up at Mr. Longbottom in wonder, before she remembered that if this was a prank, he would probably have been told that anyways. "Can you do magic?" she asked. She knew that, if this was a prank, she would get it later for asking. But she couldn't help being curious and anyways, if he couldn't do magic then she would know for sure that this was a prank.

Calanthe wanted to believe with all her heart that it was real, that maybe there was somewhere where her weirdness would be totally acceptable. She waited for Mr. Longbottom's answer.

Neville smiled. "Yes, I can do magic. Would you like to see some?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. She shifted suspense fully in her seat.

Neville smiled and then calmly turned a sofa cushion next to him into a white rabbit, and then levitated it up into the air with his wand.

There was a gasp from the doorway. Calanthe's mother stood there, staring at the rabbit floating in mid air. "It's true," she whispered. "Magic…" she looked at Calanthe. "When she was a baby, she could make her toys float across the room towards her. When she got older, it stopped happening but I always remembered…" her voice trailed off.

Neville was struck by the uncomfortable-ness of this situation. Calanthe was simply sitting and staring at her mother, her mouth slightly open. "Why didn't you tell me that?" she asked.

Calanthe's mother put her head in her hands. "How can you tell someone something like that?" she asked. Then she took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. She succeeded, for the most part. When she looked up at her daughter and Mr. Longbottom again she looked much calmer. "So, Mr. Longbottom," she said. "Would you care to tell us more about Hogwarts?"

Neville was relieved that everything had turned out so well and that Calanthe's mother had not freaked out on him. He had several bad memories in which the unhappy parents of Muggle children had started throwing things at him… and he, of course, had not been allowed to use any magic of any kind against them.

After turning the rabbit (which had started nibbling on his shirt) back into a cushion, Neville started to explain about Hogwarts. He explained that every student spent seven years there and at that time they left school either to seek more training (some Wizarding jobs required this) or to start work. He explained about the Ministry of Magic and about the laws against Underage Magic. (Calanthe's mother was very happy about the latter, although Calanthe herself wasn't.) He also explained a lot about Hogwarts its self; the Houses, House Points, the classes Calanthe would be taking if she chose to attend. At the end of the monologue, he asked "I take it, from your interest, that you do want to attend?"

Calanthe glanced at her mother. As Mr. Longbottom had talked, she had become steadily more excited. Imagine going to a school which was a castle – no less – to learn magic! When Calanthe's mother saw her face, it was full of hope.

And so, even though Calanthe's mother was not happy to send her eleven-year-old daughter away, she said, "Yes, it sounds as though it would be dangerous not to train her up in any case. She will, though, get to come home for the holidays?"

Neville let out an internal sigh of relief; this had gone quite well. "Yes, yes of course," he said. "And now for the matter of your school supplies… I can take Calanthe in to buy them all. There is a place in London – which isn't far from here. Your house is just outside of Oxford, yes?" – Calanthe's mother nodded – "Anyways, the place in London is called Diagon Alley. You can get everything there… a start up fund should be equal to around two hundred of your pounds, depending on how much you want to spend on your supplies and things."

"Do wizards have different money from us?" Calanthe asked.

Neville looked at her in surprise. "Oh, yes," he said. "But I won't attempt to explain that now – it isn't that it's complicated, it's just that we don't have much time if you want to go to Diagon Alley today."

"Today?" Calanthe's mother asked in surprise. She clearly hadn't expected anything to happen this fast.

"Yes," said Neville, standing up. "It's already August 20th, and term starts on September 1st – in eleven days. I'm going to have to go back to Hogwarts tomorrow to get ready for the start of term. I'm sure you understand."

"I could take her to get her things," said Calanthe's mother, in a slightly hurt voice.

Neville smiled. "With all due respect, Ma'am," he said, "it would be better for Calanthe to have a citizen of the magical community with her. Our world is rather different from the Muggle – err Non-Magic world. It might be rather hard for the both of you to navigate on your own. And that reminds me – Calanthe?"

Calanthe looked at him.

"Here's your letter. Inside is the total list of books and equipment that you'll need and also," he looked at Calanthe's mother, "students are allowed to bring pets. The pets that are allowed or in fashion this year are Owls, Cats, Salamanders, Pigmy Puffs (you won't have heard of those), and Squirrels. Pixies used to be on the list, but they got banned when people started setting them against their classmates and having Pixie wars. Oh well. Anyways, I need your permission to allow her – or not – to get a pet."

Calanthe's mother struggled for a second before saying, "Okay then. Just not a Salamander or a Squirrel. Any of the others should be fine. And don't," she hesitated, "let her get anything dangerous."

Neville smiled. "You can count on it. Hogwarts would fire me if I did."


	4. Diagon Alley

**Chapter Two: Diagon Alley**

_Thirty Minutes Later_

Twenty minutes later, Calanthe was on a train to London. Mr. Longbottom sat opposite her. She could barely contain her own excitement. Reluctantly, Calanthe's mother had agreed to stay behind at the house. Calanthe had begged her not to tell her brother about what was happening, and, to Calanthe's relief, her mother had agreed that it would be best not to tell Mike until Calanthe was far away. It wouldn't be hard to hide; Mike spent so much time at his friends' houses these days that it would be easy to move all of Calanthe's supplies into and out of the house without his noticing.

Calanthe stared out of the window, glancing every now and then at (as she should call him now) Professor Longbottom. She had so many things that she wanted to ask him… but at the same time her brain seemed clogged; her thoughts weren't functioning properly enough to let any questions through. So she sat still and stared out the window.

For his part, Professor Longbottom was just pleased that everything had gone so well. He felt rather obligated to break the silence, though, so he cleared his throat and asked her, "so, have you read your letter?"

Calanthe looked up from the window. "No," she said. "Not yet."

"Well, we have a few minutes before the train reaches London – why don't you pull it out?"

Frowning, Calanthe pulled her letter from her back pocket. The paper was stiff in her hands – like a cross between cardboard and regular paper. "What is this written on?" she asked absently, studying the envelope in her hands.

"That's called Parchment," Professor Longbottom said. Then he frowned, "What, do the Muggles – non magic people – use something different?" He hadn't heard of this, not even from any of his Muggle-Born friends.

"Yes," Calanthe said. "We use paper…" _Parchment,_ she thought hard to herself. _Parchment, parchment…_ She couldn't forget. It would be missing terms like that that would make her feel like an idiot – and make her seem completely dumb to all the Wizard-Born children that Professor Longbottom had told her about. Not that Calanthe was any stranger to being an outcast… But she had a dream of not being one in this strange new world that she was, suddenly, about to become apart of. Even though she didn't recognize it herself, it was her dearest wish to be apart of something, to find a place where she fit. Calanthe didn't want anything to tear that away from her.

Feeling Professor Longbottom's gaze still on her, Calanthe turned over her letter and carefully, so as to not damage the parchment inside, and slid it open. Gently, she slid a piece of folded parchment out of the envelope and began to read;

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HOGWARTS SCHOOL

_Of _WITCHCRAFT_ and _WIZARDRY

Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall

Dear Ms. Rogers,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

_**Minerva McGonagall**_

Minerva McGonagall,

_Headmistress_

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Calanthe read it through a couple of times. "Enclosed list of necessary books and equipment," she muttered softly to herself.

Professor Longbottom heard her anyways. "Look in the Envelope," he suggested helpfully.

Calanthe nodded, slightly entranced by the letter. She absently pulled the list out of the envelope and unfolded it.

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UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

Three sets of plain robes (black)

One set Dress Robes (Follows Dress Code)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags, and that clothing worn on Weekends need not always wear uniforms

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ by Miranda Goshawk

_A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch

_Herbology Made Easy _by Jessica Spant

_Magical Drafts and Potions _by Aaarsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander

_Simple Protection _by Harry Potter

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a salamander OR a Pigmy Puff OR a Squirrel. All students will be held responsible for the actions of their pets

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Calanthe stared at this for a long time, and then looked up to find Professor Longbottom looking at her. She had so many questions, but the thing that finally came out of her mouth was, "How will I carry all this?!"

Professor Longbottom leaned back in his chair and laughed, long and hard. "You'll have a trunk," he promised, eyes streaming.

"Oh," Calanthe said, blushing. "Um, where do I get that?" she asked.

"There's a place in Diagon Alley," he said.

Calanthe frowned. "Diagon Alley?" she asked, confused.

Neville smiled. "That's the Wizarding place in London, we all come there to buy things, get money out of the bank, and sometimes people live there."

"Oh, so a bit like a Shopping Center where people can live too?" Calanthe asked.

"What's a Shopping Center?" Professor Longbottom asked curiously.

Calanthe's mouth fell open. "Uh…" she said self-consciously. The last thing she wanted to do was start explaining Muggle life to Wizards. "Never mind," she said.

Professor Longbottom shrugged. "Okay," he said.

Calanthe was beginning to get an idea of exactly how different the Wizarding World was. _I will master this,_ she thought stubbornly to herself. _I will!_ But in spite of what she told herself, the lives of Wizards were beginning to seem very, very far away. She wondered how she would ever catch up.

Lost in worry, Calanthe fell into silence. She stared outside of the window and watched the countryside and then, later, the buildings of London pass by. Soon, the train pulled to a stop. Professor Longbottom led Calanthe up onto the street. In spite of living so near London, Calanthe had never visited the city regularly herself. She had been there… maybe seven times in her whole life. That was it. Mostly, Calanthe went to the country to visit her Grandmother, Aunts, and Uncles, rather than visit the city.

After following the Professor through a tangled web of streets for what felt like forever but was really around half an hour, they arrived outside a decrepit little building with the sign "The Leaky Cauldron," hanging out front. Professor Longbottom, as if oblivious to the fact that the little building looked like it was about to fall down, went inside. Calanthe followed him hoping, as she did so, that the closing of the door wouldn't shake the structure so badly that it collapsed on top of them.

Inside, it was crowded, though, and well lit. A stooped bar-tended sat behind the counter smoking a pipe and occasionally filling glasses for his various customers by absently pointing his wand at the cup and watching it whisk off to do as he commanded. Very few people looked up when she and the professor entered, and they made their way out of the back door quickly, although Calanthe would have been happy to watch the various cups and glasses fill themselves for a few more minutes… or a few more hours. Professor Longbottom seemed to know what she was feeling, and he gave her a smile before leading her over towards a brick wall and tapping one of the bricks (Calanthe couldn't see which one it was) with a wand he had pulled out of his pocket.

And then, there were sounds of shouts, views of colors; the brick wall was gone. In its place, was a crowded street full of people dressed in robes of every imaginable color, holding shopping bags, standing or talking or struggling to get through the crowd.

"Diagon Alley?" Calanthe asked, feeling as though she was in a huge spot light, even though no one was really looking her way.

Professor Longbottom nodded. "This would be the place."

Calanthe had to give up trying to take in everything that was going on around her, even though she wanted to. It was just too much. All the new sights, all the new smells – it was way, way, way too much for her to handle all at once. What struck her most, though, was the magicness of it all. The people staring into broomstick shop windows or bartering over newt-tongues in the street outside an Apothecary. The children – some of them dressed in Muggle clothes, even though some of these had things like 'Go Hornets!' on the front – running underfoot and tripping everyone. There were even some children who looked around her age. Calanthe paid most attention to these. _These might be my classmates,_ she thought to herself. She never saw any of these for more than a minute, though, so she never had a chance to find out any more about them.

"Where are we going first?" Calanthe called to Neville. He had a strong grip on her upper arm to make sure that they wouldn't get separated in the throng of shoppers in Diagon Alley.

"Gringotts," said Professor Longbottom simply. Then, remembering that Calanthe had no idea what in the world Gringotts was, he added "It's our bank. You can go there to change your money so you can buy your school supplies."

Comprehension dawned on Calanthe's face at his explanation, and she smiled. Her mother had given her a little extra money to spend on herself. Calanthe wasn't sure whether it was a little bit of guilt for not being able to stop Mike from tormenting her, or sadness that she would be leaving. It made Calanthe a little uncomfortable to think about so she avoided thinking about it as much as possible.

As they walked down the street, Professor Longbottom led her towards a large, elegant, white marble building. Calanthe had to crane her neck to see the top of it.

"Gringotts," the professor said, almost unnecessarily. He led Calanthe inside.

Inside the bank, Professor Longbottom led her up to a counter behind which a small, wrinkled, undeniably ugly, creature sat counting money. Calanthe gulped. She wanted to ask the Professor what on earth this was, but it would have heard her. Instead, she just stood behind him while he handled the money exchange. When he had finished, he almost sighed in relief. Calanthe looked at him questioningly.  
"Thank you for not asking what he was," he said, clearly meaning the creature at the desk. "I'm so sorry, I should have warned you."

"But," Calanthe said in a low voice with a glance back at the creature, "what was he?"

"A Goblin," said the Professor. "They're very easy to offend, Goblins. It's better not to hurt their pride if you can help it. If you had asked me what he was just now, he might have gotten offended and trust me, that would not have been good for us."

Calanthe nodded; that was something else to remember. "Where to next?" she asked.

"How about we go get your books," he said. "And then we can stop at Madam Malkins for your robes and hat. You'll be wanting at least five pair of uniform robes at least. And a pair of Dress Robes. Those weren't required in my day but there are a lot more social events these days I suppose. Student gatherings. Oh, and with whatever left-over money you have you can buy a few pairs of colored robes for weekends and holidays and things. A lot of Muggle children still wear robes over the holidays too, to show off that they've been doing since they can't do magic. So you can get some of those if you want."

"Okay," Calanthe said simply. She followed Professor Longbottom (who was still keeping a tight grip on her arm) to a store called Flourish and Blotts, where a spindly assistant came over to her, grabbed her book list, and ran around the shop for a minute grabbing the books on her list for her. When he was finished, he brought the tottering pile over to her. He neatly placed the books onto the counter, and then asked her if she would like to have a regular shopping bag, or a better bag which she could use to carry her books around school. Calanthe looked at Neville for help, here.

"Go ahead and get one," he advised. "They're really useful – and everyone uses them besides." Calanthe chose a dark purple bag with an embroidered cat on it that chased its tail round and round.

"Anything else?" the assistant asked Calanthe gruffly. Again, she looked at Professor Longbottom.

"Do you want anything else. Since this is your first year, I'd wait, since we have just about everything you'll ever need in the Hogwarts library."

"No," Calanthe said the assistant. He gave a reproachful look to the Professor, and then charged her for her purchases. After paying, they left the shop.

Professor Longbottom then led Calanthe into a shop that was slightly musky. A stooped witch came in said "Hogwarts, dearie?"

Calanthe nodded, eyes wide. The witch gave her a toothy grin and pulled out a tape measure. After a few minutes of hemming and a few well-placed waves of her wand, The witch (who Calanthe guessed was Madam Malkins herself) had finished with her school robes.

"Now," said Madam Malkins, "You'll be wanting dress-robes. How about a nice light blue to match your eyes?" Madam Malkins went over to a cupboard and pulled out a set of very beautiful light-blue silk robes. They were beautiful.

Calanthe was slightly awed as the robes slid over her head. She looked… good.

"Very beautiful dear," said Madam Malkins approvingly. "Would you like these?"

"Yes," Calanthe squeaked and Madam Malkins laughed.

"Very well then dear, very well." Madam Malkins wrapped them in brown paper and added them to the bag of normal school robes. "Now then, dear, how about some normal colored robes?"

"Okay," Calanthe said. "Um, what colors do you think?"

Madam Malkins smiled and picked out robes of ivory, light pink, dark green, and amber. Around half and hour later, Calanthe left the shop with a very full bag of robes.

"Where to now?" Calanthe asked Professor Longbottom. She had been feeling much more cheery since her visit to Madam Malkins. She had really looked like a real witch in there!

"A wand, I think," said the Professor, wiping his brow.

At that point, Calanthe felt a bubble of excitement. A magic wand! This was what she had been waiting for.

Professor Longbottom led the way to a small shop that stood near the end of the street. Olivanders, the sign said. Calanthe looked up at the sign. It was very old, that was apparent. It didn't appear to be falling apart though. Calanthe felt rather quieted by the sight of it. She let the Professor lead the way into this shop.

Inside, there was a little man sitting behind the counter. He was clearly old, but the lively way he jumped out from behind the desk to wring her hand excitedly said otherwise.

"Hello," said the little man whom Calanthe assumed was Mr. Olivander. "Hogwarts? First year buying your first wand?" Calanthe nodded. "Excellent!" said Mr. Olivander excitedly. Calanthe glanced behind her. Professor Longbottom was not in the shop, but standing discretely outside. Calanthe made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Mr. Olivander was muttering. "Let me see, let me see," he said under his breathe. "Dragon Heart String and Holly. Give it a try, go on." He handed the wand to Calanthe, who just had time to pick it up before it was snatched away my Mr. Olivander.

"No, no, no," he said. Let me see. How about… Oak and Phoenix feather." He passed the wand to Calanthe, who only had to touch it before it was snatched away. After three more wands, Calanthe was beginning to feel discouraged. Suppose there wasn't a wand that fit her? Suppose she couldn't go to Hogwarts because no wand would choose her? Mr. Olivander, on the other hand, appeared to feel exactly the opposite. He was humming merrily to himself and flitting around the shop pulling down boxes and then taking them away when the wands inside didn't work. Calanthe wondered if it was normal to have to go through a lot of wands before finding the right one.

"Now," said Mr. Olivander, "try this one. Dogwood and Unicorn hair. Go on, give it a try."

Uncertainly, Calanthe picked up the wand and waved it; a shower of bright blue and silver sparks shot out of the end like fireworks.

"Excellent!" said Mr. Olivander. "Powerful wand, that one. Excellent for delicate situations. You'll go far with that one." He carefully wrapped up the wand. Almost in relief, Calanthe paid and left the shop. Now she understood why the Professor wasn't exactly eager to see Mr. Olivander. He was something of a strange character. Brilliant, obviously. But strange too.

Calanthe felt slightly strange as she and Professor Longbottom went to buy her cauldron, telescope, trunk, and protective gloves. She couldn't explain it. Perhaps it was just shock from so many new things in one day, but she thought that she could also attribute it to her visit to Mr. Olivander's shop. The way he had looked at her when she had gotten that wand… it was creepy. Calanthe tried to put it out of her mind.

"All right Calanthe, only a pet now, if you want one," said Professor Longbottom around an hour later. It was getting late in the day. Calanthe was tired, but the idea of getting an animal excited her once more. This was something she could choose! She wondered what kind of animal she would get, and regretted that her mother wouldn't let her get a squirrel. Maybe a cat or an owl. Calanthe had always liked cats, but owls sounded incredibly cool…

"Yeah, sure," she said. She followed the Professor into a shop with a huge variety of animals in cages in its windows. Inside, she shop smelled slightly musky. It was dim in there too – many of the windows were obscured by cages alive with activity. Calanthe made to peer into one of them, only to find live bats inside it which gnashed their teeth at her.

"Real Vampire Bats," said the man behind the counter in a bored voice. "They feed only on human blood. Have to be fed every few hours, too. Twenty eight sickles a piece, those."

"Um, no thank you," Calanthe said uncertainly.

Professor Longbottom looked at the shop keeper coolly until the man noticed him.

"What can I get for you today Sir," he looked at Calanthe again, "Ma'am," he said with a nod to her.

The Professor gave her a look which clearly said, "Speak up!"

"I'm interested in Cats and Owls, sir," Calanthe said, thinking it would be best to be polite. This man didn't seem very nice.

"Cats and owls," the man muttered, "cats and owls… you'd best look over there in the back of the shop. Yes, right over there." He pointed to a dark corner. Calanthe vaguely heard him strike up a conversation with the Professor, but then her attention was lost to the animals in their cages.

_Get one only if you really want it,_ said the reasonable part of Calanthe's brain. It seemed a good idea; she had no idea how long these animals lived, but she was sure that it was quite a long time. She would probably be at least thirty before whatever animal she got died. She would have to be sure to take care of it all that time. Calanthe hated the idea of animal cruelty and knew that most of those cases were due to neglect. She wouldn't neglect whatever animal she ended up choosing, but it was always good to be sure that she would love it first. No harm in stacking the deck.

Calanthe's eyes passed over animal after animal. A tawny owl in its cage, head under its wing. A group of snowy kittens, all curled up together in their cage. A pair of beautiful copper eyes suddenly turned up and met hers. Calanthe caught her breath and realized that they belonged to a cat. A cat with long brown fur and literally copper markings around its eyes, face, and the rest of its fur. Its fur was matted, though, and it looked as though the cat hadn't been cared for in a long time. Calanthe stared at the cat. The cat stared back.

_It's funny, _Calanthe thought, _when you think that something like a decision is going to be so difficult, and then it turns out to be the easiest thing in the whole world. _She knew that this was the animal she wanted.

She called the shop keeper over, and left the shop twenty minutes later carrying the cat carefully in a basket, along with a brush, comb, and a bag of food. Professor Longbottom said that it wouldn't be necessary for her to feed the cat at Hogwarts, that the school elves would take care of it, but it would be quite a while until then.

It was time for her to return home. Calanthe felt both relieved and a little disappointed too. She had enjoyed her day in the magical world. Plus returning home meant seeing her brother. She wondered how she would explain the cat to him, especially with its unusual markings and coloring. She wished she could cast an invisibility spell over it all to hide all of her new wizarding possessions. The thought of having her brother know about her going to Hogwarts made her slightly sick.

Just as she was about to board the train back to her home, Professor Longbottom tapped her shoulder. "I won't be taking the train back with you, so I thought I'd go over some things before we part," he said.

Calanthe nodded, listening.

"Take the train at eleven o'clock from platform 9 3/4. You get onto it by walking straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. You needn't go to the train in your robes – those wait until the train gets going for a little while. You have some extra money?" Calanthe nodded. "Good. You'll want it when you're on the train. But since you're a first year, you won't need it while you're at school." Finally, Professor Longbottom smiled. "Good luck, Calanthe," he said. And then he turned in the air and was gone.

The train ride back seemed to take very little time at all. Her mother met her at the station, her eyes anxious and then relieved when she saw her daughter get off the train. Of only one thing Calanthe was certain; she could hardly wait to go to Hogwarts.


	5. Sabina

**Chapter Three: Sabina**

_September 1__st_

It was early morning. Calanthe's alarm clock was set to wake her at eight to get ready, but that was thirty minutes from now. Calanthe could barely contain her excitement. She was finally going to Hogwarts! It was hard to believe that two weeks ago she had had no idea that such a place existed. Calanthe looked to the foot of her bed where her trunk stood open. She had packed all her school robes, planning on changing on the train as the Professor had suggested. Everything was packed. Calanthe looked over to where her cat, whom she had named Rajani, slept on her window seat. Every time Calanthe saw her she got a little thrill of happiness and her excitement increased. She was going to Hogwarts! She was going to be a witch! In a few hours, everything would finally be happening.

Unable to contain herself and sit in bed any longer, Calanthe went to get dressed. She barely looked at what she threw on, except to make sure that it was neat, clean, and looked reasonably nice. In her mind, Muggle clothing wasn't even nearly as exciting as wizard clothing… but she would have to make due with this for the time being. But that didn't stop her eyes from straying, every so often, to her trunk where her robes lay, packed of course. In search of something to do, anything, Calanthe brushed her teeth and combed her hair. Then, she polished her glasses and put them on. At a loss for what to do next, she sat back on her bed. There were over two hours until the train left, and she had nothing to do but sit here. Sighing, Calanthe decided to read more of her school books.

She had already finished reading most of her course books, but not quite. Normally, she wouldn't do this for any class… but she felt that she was already so behind in the Wizarding World and she wanted to be good at at least something. So she had read and made an effort to know everything for most classes, except History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts, which she hadn't gotten to yet. So far, Charms and Transfiguration were easily her best subjects. She hadn't tried any of the Transfiguration spells yet – they were warned against, being very tricky magic – but she had tried a couple of the charms spells. (Professor Longbottom had said that this was okay, because she couldn't do any real damage anyways with this level of training. But after her first year there would be consequences.) She could levitate a leaf off of her desk and mend something broken, so long as it wasn't too big. Potions had been impossible to study for, as you had to brew stuff for that and she didn't want to use all of her ingredients before she even got to school. She could memorize what certain potions did, though, and what happened when you added certain things together. Herbology, Professor Longbottom's subject, wasn't very interesting at all to Calanthe. She like looking at the pictures of the various plants, but memorizing their Latin names and what the plants did was simply boring to Calanthe. She had forced herself, though, to memorize the names and properties of basic plants and how to recognize them. She thought she had gotten pretty good at it too, in spite of her dislike of the subject.

Calanthe propped herself up on her pillow and began to read her History of Magic book. To her surprise, she liked the subject. She hadn't ever liked history at all in her normal, Muggle, schools… but something about the historical Witches and Wizards and what they did was just fascinating. Of particular interest to Calanthe were the brief mentions of Hogwarts History among the various feuds and law-makers of the Wizarding World. She paid particular attention to the information on the four founders on Hogwarts; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. She had reached around the middle of the book (with some skimming) by Nine Thirty when her mother came to get her.

"Ready, Calanthe?" she asked. Something in her eyes looked a little bright.

Calanthe went over and hugged her mother. "I'll send you and owl as soon as I can," she said.

Her mother looked confused.

"Owls carry the Wizard Post, mom," she explained, smiling. In surprise, she discovered that she was crying too. What was wrong with her? She was going to Hogwarts! She shouldn't be crying about leaving this place behind! And yet, somehow, she was.

After a few minutes, they pulled away from each other and Calanthe wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Really, I'll write as soon as I get there," she promised.

Her mother nodded. "Thank you sweetie," she said. "I'll help you carry your trunk downstairs."

Everything was going without a hitch. Mike was still fast asleep, from all the sounds coming from his room.

The car was loaded. It was time to go. "Ready?" asked Calanthe's mother.

Calanthe nodded, and the car pulled out of the driveway. As Calanthe glanced back up towards the house one last time, she saw her brother looking out of the window. She had no idea how different she would be when she saw him again.

They arrived at King's Cross at around ten thirty. "Better hurry!" exclaimed Calanthe's mother, checking her watch. "You only have thirty minutes to be on that train!"

Calanthe's eye's widened. "Aren't you coming with me?" she asked her mother.

"I'll come with you as far as the barrier, just to make sure you get through," she said. "I don't think I can stand to watch the train leave with you on it."

Calanthe felt rather hurt that her mother didn't plan to see her off, but there wasn't time to think about that. She still had to get to the platform on time! Calanthe ran and got a trolley and her mother placed the heavy trunk onto it and her cat's basket onto it. It made Calanthe feel very conspicuous, to be wheeling a trolley into the station with a heavy trunk and a magical cat. She swallowed her feelings, though, and tried to look as normal as it was possible for her to look. Swiftly, glancing at her watch every few seconds, Calanthe's mother led the way into the station. Platforms 1, 2, 3 – they passed them quickly, but it seemed to take forever. Calanthe had fifteen minutes to get on that train, and it was passing fast.

At last, they reached the barrier between platforms Nine and Ten. Calanthe was surprised by how completely solid it looked. She wondered if Professor Longbottom had been pulling her leg, that this was all, somehow, a huge joke. But no, no one could have rigged Diagon Alley. And besides, her mother had seen the rabbit-cushion too. No, it must all be real. But all the same, the barrier…

"Well, this is goodbye, sweetie," said Calanthe's mother.

Calanthe bit her lip, but looked happily up into her mother's face. "I'll be fine, Mom," she said. A huge sense of purposeful excitement was bubbling inside of Calanthe, but it was marred just a little by uncertainty. She hugged her mother one last time.

"Bye," Calanthe said. Her mother, who had already started to walk away a little, waved. And then she was gone into the crowd, out of the station. Calanthe took a deep breath, and turned her cart around towards the barrier between platforms Nine and Ten. She was about to push her cart through it, when she heard someone shout from behind her.

"Hey, wait!" On reflex, Calanthe turned and looked behind her. There was a girl around her own age waving and smiling at her. Calanthe had never seen her before in her life, but she waved back uncertinly. The girl caught up with her. She had long reddish-gold hair which was held out of her eyes by a piece of red ribbon, sparkling blue-grey eyes, and pale skin.

"I'm Sabina," the girl said confidently, giving Calanthe a smile. "You going to Hogwarts too?"

Calanthe nodded. "Yeah," she said. "First year."

Sabina nodded. "Me too. Want to sit together on the train? I don't know anyone else who is going. I'm Partblood, but my Dad was killed by the Deatheaters, so my mom – she's a Muggle – had to raise me by herself. So I don't know much about magic." Sabina spoke very fast, and Calanthe wondered if this was some sort of nervous reaction, because she couldn't believe that anyone could talk this fast all the time. It would wear them out, wouldn't it?

"Okay," she said. "I'm Muggle-born, so I guess I don't know much about magic either. Like, what exactly are Deatheaters?"

Sabina looked at her wisely. "You-Know-Who's followers. He was a Dark wizard that was killed around… twenty years ago."

Calanthe had noticed a problem with this. "But if You-Know-Who was killed twenty years ago, wouldn't you be older or something?"

Sabina smiled. "Nope. These were just some who escaped capture." A frown crossed her face. "Actually, I don't really know completely what happened. The Ministry of Magic wouldn't give me or my mother much information on it for some reason. But I guess I wouldn't remember anyways. It happened when I was around two, after all."

"I'm sorry," Calanthe said.

"It's okay. I really don't remember him much. And I've still got the rest of my family. Oh gosh, we've got five minutes to get on the train, we'd better hurry!"

Calanthe pushed her cart through the barrier without thinking about it, and was followed a second later by Sabina. Together, they hurried along towards the end of the train and hauled their trunks aboard. Outside, Calanthe heard the whistle blowing and she could feel the engine warming up as the whole train vibrated.

"Hmmm," said Sabina. "There don't seem to be many empty compartments… ohh how about this one?" Without waiting for an answer, she pushed her way into a compartment where a lone girl sat, head leaning against the window.

Calanthe followed her inside. "Hi," she said to the girl by the window. Um, is it okay if we sit here?"

The girl looked at them. She had short black hair and brown eyes. "Okay," she said, and turned back towards the window. Sabina took a seat one away from the dark-haired girl, and Calanthe sat down across from her.

Sabina was bouncing in her seat. "I'm so excited!" she said, grinning.

Calanthe grinned. That was something they had in common. "What house do you think you'll get into?" she asked.

Sabina's face took on a blissful look. "I'm hoping Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," she said. "But I don't really mind that much. I had an Uncle – on my Dad's side obviously – who was in Slytherin, so I guess that wouldn't be too bad. But the description in Hogwarts, a History made them seem a little dark."

Calanthe nodded. "I read that part too," she said. "I don't suppose I'd mind Hufflepuff too badly either, but the book made it sound like they were hardworking, but otherwise they were the kids the rest of the houses would reject!"

Sabina frowned. "It did kind of sound like that, didn't it? Maybe the writer didn't capture Hufflepuff's view? Because some really talented people have come out of that house." Sabina seemed to be calming down a little.

"I wouldn't know," Calanthe grinned. "Muggle-born." She didn't let on exactly how worried about that she was.

Sabina shrugged. "Actually, I don't really know either," she grinned. "I just read it out of the book!"

Calanthe considered for a moment. "I guess I'm hoping for Ravenclaw or Gryffindor too, even though I don't think the other two would be bad either."

Sabina grinned, as though that settled the matter. "Hey, maybe we'll be in the same house!"

Calanthe grinned excitedly. "I hope so!"

They went on talking and laughing for the next few hours. Calanthe let Rajani out of her basket to stretch her legs and walk around. Sabina, as it turned out, had brought a silvery-grey owl with her. As they talked, it peered down from the luggage rack at them. Calanthe was surprised at how easy it really was to make friends. Of course, it helped that they were weird in the same ways that she was.

A few hours into the journey, someone banged on the compartment door. "Want anything from the trolley dears," said an old witch, sticking her head inside. For the first time, the dark-haired girl by the window stirred and looked at the witch. "Okay," she said. Calanthe and Sabina followed her out of the compartment to where a trolley stocked with sweets sat. Calanthe had never sampled Wizarding sweets before, so she followed Sabina's lead for the most part. Not that, according to Sabina, anything was bad; she loved it all. Calanthe bought a couple of chocolate frogs, cauldron cakes, and some every-flavor beans. When they were done, the three of them went back into the compartment together.

Sabina, too, had apparently just woken up to the dark-haired girl's presence, because when they were all seated again, she asked "What's your name?"

She was staring out of the window again. "Irene Chang," she said.

"Nice to meet you," Calanthe offered. She wondered what it was about having a friend here that was making her feel secure. But for some reason, she felt bolder than she would have at home, where she ordinarily wouldn't have spoken.

"You too," Irene said, continuing to stare out of the window.

Sabina, apparently, wasn't being discouraged by her lack of interest in them. "Are you excited to go to Hogwarts?" she asked.

Irene nodded, still staring out of the window.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Calanthe tried.

"Hmmm… I don't know," Irene said, barely paying attention.

Sabina was beginning to look a little offended. "Sorry for bothering you," she said, a tad huffily.

Irene looked at her in surprise, and then, to both of their surprise, she burst into tears.

"I'm s-sorry," Irene sobbed. "I didn't mean," she choked on her sob, unable to finish the sentence. Sabina looked as though she wasn't sure whether to be sorry or confused.

"What's wrong?" Calanthe asked gently.

Irene sniffed, trying to stifle her sobs. "It's my mother," she said.

"Are you homesick?" asked Sabina.

Irene shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's just that, I don't know where she is." Irene let out another shaky sob, but this one was quieter. It appeared that letting out a little of the emotion she was feeling was making her feel better.

"Has she vanished?" asked Calanthe.

Irene shook her head again. "Not exactly," she said. "But she goes on business trips a lot – she works for the ministry – but I haven't heard from her in four days and she promised she'd come and see me off." Another sob, still quieter.

"Awww, I'm sorry," Calanthe said, unsure what else she could say. "You can owl her when you get there, though, and stay with us in the meantime." But this, it appeared, was enough. Irene gave her a little smile, and both she and Sabina smiled back, and they all went onto talking about what it would be like at Hogwarts, what each of them had heard about the teachers, that sort of thing.

At last, Sabina looked at her watch. "We should only have another hour before we arrive," she said excitedly. "We'd better get our robes on!"

They looked excitedly at each other for a few moments, and then they each opened their trunks and begun to dress.

"Ohhh the sorting!" Irene said, her eyes wide. "I wish I knew where I was going! I'd feel a little better then."

Sabina but her lip, but then squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, "I'm sure we'll all manage where ever they put us," she said. But Calanthe thought she looked a little nervous too. She crossed her fingers, even if she wasn't sure what she was hoping for.

When they were all finished putting on their robes, Sabina took out a brush and smoothed her hair.

It caught Irene's eye. "Your hair is so beautiful," she told Sabina. "So long."

Sabina blushed; it appeared she wasn't used to compliments. "Uh, thanks," she said. "I like yours too."

Calanthe straightened her glasses, and took her hair out of its ponytail. Maybe it would look better, not so thin, down. She was suddenly very self-conscious; she wasn't used to it.

After a few more minutes, they all sat down again. Calanthe noticed that Irene kept looking at herself in the window on the compartment, and pulling at her reflection. "What do we do when we get there?" she asked nervously.

Sabina thought for a moment. "Get sorted?" she said. "I don't know what happens after that." She yawned. "I hope we get to go to bed!"

Calanthe grinned at her. "I second that."

Irene said, "I just want to get through this evening. I'll worry about sleeping later."

She said it so seriously that the other two laughed. But before long, the train began slowing down more and more. As it pulled to a halt, the three of them could barely do more than sit there and look at each other, fear in their eyes.

A speaker blared. "Everyone, please leave your luggage and pets on the train. They will be taken to the school separately," it crackled. Calanthe shut Rajani in her cage; the cat was miffed, she had been sleeping on a seat, but Calanthe couldn't care. She barely noticed what she was doing, her nerves were so alive with electricity.

As they exited the train, they all grabbed hands to keep from being pushed apart by the onrush of students.

"First years, over here," called a rough voice from not too far off. They stared at each other.

"Us?" Sabina squeaked.

Calanthe nodded; Irene's eyes just got wider. They set off towards the voice, and when they got a little closer Irene let out a little squeal; the man calling out 'first years!' was a huge mountain of a main with a beard like a thicket of wild brambles. Calanthe's own eyes went wide for a moment at the sight of him, before she remembered that this was a school, and so the teachers and staff probably weren't dangerous. At least, not much. And not to the students.

They joined a little crowd of students who appeared to be around their age. Calanthe lost track of the faces; they all looked the same with wide eyes, sometimes nervous or even terrified expressions.

The giant man looked around at them. "That everyone? Yeah? Okay. Follow me." And he led the way into the darkness. After a few minutes, he spoke again; "Okay everyone? You'll get your first sight of Hogwarts in a 'mo."

And it rose before them. A giant castle towering above them, lighted windows illuminating it. It was magnificent, and Calanthe almost stopped in her tracks to stare at it. Abruptly, she wasn't as nervous as she had been before. The sight of the castle seemed to steady her. She didn't have time to stare, though, because the giant was leading them towards a little fleet of boats that waited at the edge of a lake.

Calanthe, Irene, and Sabina, all took a boat followed by a boy with white blonde hair and grey eyes. None of them spoke; they were all too awed, too captivated, and in some cases too nervous to speak. As one, the little fleet of boats settled off, and a few minutes later they were gliding into an underground passageway underneath the castle. She heard Irene gasp again as they went under the ground, but she needn't have worried; as soon as they entered the tunnel a lighted boating ramp was visible at the end of it. By the time the boats had reached it, there was someone standing there. It was Professor Longbottom.

"Hello," he greeted them cheerfully. "Rose, Calanthe, Maddox, Albus – everyone else – Welcome."

Calanthe glanced around and saw some other kids looking at the Professor as though they had met him before, but she didn't pay much attention because Professor Longbottom was leading them into a long hallway and then out into a well-lit hall that could have fit the whole of Calanthe's house inside it.

"This is the entrance hall," the Professor said cheerfully. A great deal of noise was coming from a doorway at the end. "In a moment, we'll enter the Great Hall together for the Sorting."

Sabina elbowed Calanthe in the said. Calanthe elbowed her back, returning her nervous smile.

A small blond boy, not the one who had some with them in the boat, asked how they were going to be sorted.

Professor Longbottom smiled, and answered that all you had to do was try on a hat, which sorted you into your prospective houses. Everyone relaxed visibly, as they realized that no one was going to be having them do magic right away.

After that, the Professor went and peered into the room at the end of the hallway. He turned to them, smiled, and motioned for them to follow him. They did, shuffling their feet. The Professor led the way into the room.

What looked like the whole rest of the student body sat there, staring at them. Calanthe felt her throat go dry, but she followed Professor Longbottom up towards where a three-legged stool sat with an old, patched, dusty, hat sat looking entirely unmagical. But then, the hat burst into song;

"Many days and many night's it has been,

since our school was started,

and our founders swore back then

that they'd never be parted.

Alas, though, how they were wrong!

For Slytherin left not-long after!

And since then they have not been kin,

And they have not known laughter

Stay strong, my friends, take heart!

For if we work together,

The bonds once-severed my be forged again

And something new will started."

There were many outbursts of muttering as the hat finished it's song, but for Calanthe it was just as surprising that it had sung at all. She wished she was more used to magic. The Professor began to call names, and one by one students filed up to try on the hat.

"Susan Brown," was first. The hat had not been on her head for more than a minute before it called, "Hufflepuff."

"Albus Potter!" A dark-haired boy with glasses was next. He quickly became a Gryffindor.

And finally, "Irene Chang!"

Calanthe watched with bated breath as Irene crossed towards the hat. It sat on her head for three full minutes before calling out, "Gryffindor!"

Calanthe could have sworn she heard Irene sigh in relief.

The minutes dragged on. Calanthe waited for her name to be called with bated breath. Was there a possibility that she wasn't on the list after-all? Maybe there had been a mistake. Maybe she would have to go home. Maybe-

"Calanthe Rogers!"

Calanthe took a deep breath and walked towards the hat. When she put it on, it slid down far past her eyes; it was much too large.

"_Hello, my dear. I've been waiting a while to meet you,"_ said the hat.

"You have?" Calanthe wasn't sure whether she had spoken aloud or not. She hoped she hadn't.

"_Indeed yes. But never mind that for the moment. For now, the question remains where to put you…"_

Calanthe waited with bated breath, wondering what its decision would be. She just hoped it would put her where she would fit in, at least a little bit.

The hat laughed, _"There's no chance of that not happening. But as it is, I think I'll put you in_Gryffindor!" She could tell it said the last word aloud and, smiling in relief, she took off the hat and went to sit with Irene who was sitting with another boy – was Albus his name? – who had been called earlier. They all watched as the next girl – who was called Rose Weasley – was made a Ravenclaw.

The boy who might be Albus groaned, his eyes wide. Their eyes met for a moment, and the girl shrugged. She went to sit at the Ravenclaw table. A moment later, she was followed by a boy called Scorpius Malfoy.

"Sabina Felix!"

Calanthe saw Sabina stumble up to the stool and ram the hat down over her eyes. A few minutes later, she joined them at the Gryffindor table. She begun talking immediately out of sheer relief. "It was so close to putting me in Ravenclaw!" she exclaimed. "But then it seemed to change it's mind, and then," but she was cut off as the Headmistress, whom Calanthe recognized because of her luxurious chair and because she sat at the center of the table, began to speak.

"Students of Hogwarts," she said gravely. "I won't bore you with the rules and regulations now. Let the feast begin!" And as she said the last word, the table filled with food. Calanthe, surprisingly, didn't feel very hungry. She ate a little, while having a conversation with Sabina, Irene, and the boy whose name might be Albus.

"That was a strange song for the hat to sing," the boy said.

"Why?" Sabina demanded.

He shrugged. "My Dad told me that it normally sings about just what describes the houses. It only ever alters the song when something going to happen."

Sabina's eyes widened. "Really? I wonder what's happening now."

The boy shrugged. "I haven't got a clue," he admitted.

"I'm so tired," Irene said.

Calanthe nodded. "Me too."

"I wonder what beds are like here," the boy speculated.

"When do we get our schedules?" Calanthe asked.

But nobody knew, and before long the feast was finished and the Headmistress began speaking again. Calanthe didn't pay much attention; she had been tired when the feast started, and now she was tired and filled with warm food. She had to shake herself to stay awake.

At the end, the prefects led the way up to the dormitories. Calanthe kept resting her head on Irene's shoulder. She had a brief impression of five four-poster beds before she had collapsed into hers and fell asleep.


	6. Tom Riddle

**Chapter Four: Tom Riddle**

_The Next Day_

Calanthe was aroused at seven-thirty the next morning when Sabina shook her shoulder. For a moment she wondered where she was before it all came rushing back; the journey to Hogwarts, her new friends, the castle itself.

"C'mon," Sabina urged, her voice an excited whisper. Her eyes were bright and lively.

Calanthe rubbed her eyes and glanced at her watch. "Isn't it a little early?" she asked Sabina groggily.

Sabina's excitement almost electrified the air around her. "No, silly," she said, grinning. "We should probably hurry. Then we can get our schedules first!"

Calanthe sat up, wide-eyed. She had almost forgotten the matter of which classes she would be assigned and who she would have them with. "Okay," she said, nervous all over again. "I'm getting up, just gimme a moment to get dressed."

Sabina bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. She was already dressed. "Great! But hurry up!"

Ten minutes later they were climbing through the portrait hole.

"Do you remember how to get back to the Great Hall?" Sabina asked, pausing to look around. "I was too tired to pay much attention last night."

Calanthe tried to remember. "This way I think," she said, pointing straight down the hallway. Sabina shrugged, and they set off.

After several wrong turns and a lot of backtracking, they found their way to the Great Hall. It was nearly eight o'clock by that time but they made their way to the still-only-half-full Gryffindor Table and sat down.

"I love the food here," Sabina said, shoveling a large spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Calanthe nodded. It was certainly much better than the food she had at home – her mother wasn't a cook – although she couldn't help wishing that there were a few more normal flavors of juice; Pumpkin juice, apart from being the most unusual flavor of juice she had ever heard of, was very very sweet.

By the time the two of them were halfway through the meal, Irene had appeared, bringing with her a fellow first year that Calanthe vaguely recognized from the sorting ceremony last night. The two of them sat down across from Calanthe and Sabina and begun to fill their plates.

"Hi," the new girl said brightly. She had white blonde hair and hazel eyes.

Calanthe smiled at her, but then Sabina's expression caught her attention; Sabina's eyes had narrowed and she had a grumpy expression on her face, but Calanthe only saw this for a split second until the blonde girl looked at Sabina. A second later Sabina was smiling brightly and asking the girl's name.

"I'm Carine," she answered, smiling sweetly.

And Sabina nodded and smiled in a way that seemed so sincere that Calanthe was left to wonder if she had imagined her friend's hostile first appearance. She made a mental not to ask Sabina about it later and dragged her mind back to the conversation.

"So, do you have any siblings who go here?" Sabina was asking.

Carine nodded. "An older brother, and my parents went here too. I'm Pureblood," she said. "He's called Derek and he's in sixth year. My parents have obviously already graduated. What about you?"

Sabina opened her mouth to reply, but was stopped when the Head of Gryffindor, a woman by the name of Arian Rosenberg, started handing out schedules to the first years. Sabina turned towards Calanthe to compare schedules.

"Hey, they're exactly the same!" she exclaimed.

"Of course," said Carine. "For the first two years of you have all your classes with your house and year mates."

Again, Calanthe thought she saw Sabina's expression harden but again a second later the sourness was gone and Sabina was tugging on Calanthe's arm.

"We should go get our books," she suggested. Calanthe nodded; she had finished breakfast ten minutes ago.

As soon as they were out of earshot of the two girls at the table, Sabina started scowling.

"What's wrong?" Calanthe asked her. She couldn't help feeling a tad nervous at the ferocity of her friend's expression.

"That girl. Carine," said Sabina. "did you see how she was talking to me? It was like I was less than her or something." She fell into a brooding silence.

Calanthe hadn't been paying much attention, but she didn't think that this was a good time to bring that up. Instead, she made a sympathetic noise and Sabina seemed to calm down a little. "So, what do we have first?" she asked Calanthe.

"Potions," Calanthe answered after checking her schedule. "And then we have Charms, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Hm… I've heard Herbology and Charms are boring," Sabina commented pessimistically. Apparently she was still in a bad mood.

"Who told you that?" Calanthe questioned.

"My Uncle," Sabina answered. "But then he isn't much of a wizard anyways. I've heard his wife – my Aunt – say that she thinks it was a miracle he graduated in the first place, all the classes he skipped." The thought seemed to amused her. "My Uncle Euclid is a very strange Wizard."

Calanthe started to laugh, and then Sabina joined in. It looked as though her bad mood had lifted, at least for the moment. Together, they retrieved their books and then made their way to their first class.

"Where is potions again?" asked Calanthe.

Sabina groaned. "Oh great, not this again!" she said.

When they entered the Potions classroom an hour later, it was to find the Potion's Master, a man called Professor Walden, writing hurriedly on the chalkboard. He was tall and thin with short brown hair and a toothbrush mustache. He appeared to be in his mid forties.

He started class by taking the role call and then had them taking notes for the rest of the hour until they were, blissfully, dismissed. They had potions with the Hufflepuffs and one of their boys, whose name Calanthe didn't know, kept telling her and Sabina to be quiet whenever they started talking behind the teacher's back. They decided they didn't like him much.

They had Charms, their next class, with the Ravenclaws. She arrived late, after getting lost in the dungeons with Sabina. However, Calanthe surprised herself in that class by being able to answer the questions that the teacher, Professor Flitwick, asked of them. She earned ten points for Gryffindor, and a high five from Sabina. In Charms, they sat with Albus and a couple of his friends whose names Calanthe didn't know (Sabina had refused to sit with Irene and Carine). All through the lesson, Calanthe had the distinct impression that Albus was trying to catch the eye of a red-haired Ravenclaw girl who was sitting only a couple of seats away from them, determinedly ignoring his gaze. Once, Calanthe got the impression that she was crying, although she was never able to see clearly. At the end of the lesson, the girl hurried out of the room ahead of the rest of the class.

Herbology, they had with the Slytherins. Calanthe had immediately started hearing tales of how nasty Slytherin house was as a whole almost as soon as she entered the castle, and she was feeling a little apprehensive about meeting them. She found, though, that she needn't have worried; Professor Longbottom taught Herbology, and he was very strict about bullies. There was a rumor that he had been bullied some while in school, and that that was what made him so strict.

Herbology, however, proved not to be much fun that day. Carine sat with them and Sabina refused to talk at all all through the class: instead, she pretended to be paying close attention, but Calanthe could see that her fists were clenched under the table. She was very happy to leave the room behind.

It was a surprise to Calanthe how easily she adjusted to life in the Castle. In the mornings, she was roused by Sabina, and the two of them would hurry down for breakfast. Then they would go to classes, taking care to sit away from Carine (who never ceased to annoy Sabina in some way) and then study together in the library until curfew. Over time, began to be joined in these evening study cessions by the boy called Albus Potter (Calanthe was surprised to learn to the famous Harry Potter was his father), as well as his two friends, Coal and Mason Wood. The fifth Gryffindor girl, whose name was Scarlet Afton, also joined them sometimes, although she spent just as much time with them as she did with Carine and her crowd. Sabine pretended not to notice.

Calanthe never did deal much with the first years from other houses; she saw them sometimes in lessons, but she never spoke to them. Albus did seem to have an interest in that red-haired Ravenclaw girl, whose name she had discovered to be Rose, but other than that most of her friends kept to other Gryffindors too. Calanthe couldn't help wondering if Albus had a crush on her, but she was never able to ask; Sabina got there first.

One evening in late October, Calanthe and her friends were sitting in the library as usual, doing homework.

"I hate Potions!" groaned Albus. "Why'd Professor Walden have to assign three rolls of parchment on Seething Solutions! How are we ever going to use something like that?"

Mason, who was also hard at work on his Potions homework, didn't look up when as he said, "They don't do much on their own, but you need them for other potions when we get to harder stuff." Mason was the Potions expert of their group.

"It's still boring," Coal brother said, elbowing him. He had never liked Potions much either.

Albus scowled. "Still!" he exclaimed. "Three rolls of parchment!"

Sabine grinned. "Why don't you get that red-haired Ravenclaw friend of yours to help you?" she asked in a tone that suggested strongly that Albus liked her. Calanthe looked up from her Transfiguration homework, listening.

Albus looked at her for a second and then answered in a surprisingly blank voice. "Her name's Rose," he said, "and she's my cousin."

Sabina was startled.

"Why does she ignore you when you try to talk to her then?" Coal asked him. Apparently, he was just as surprised as Sabina was.

"I've tried," Albus said. He ruffled his hair back in a tired sort of way. "But she just won't listen to me. She hasn't even said anything to me since the train ride here."

"Why?" asked Calanthe. It struck her as odd that Rose would just ignore her cousin like that.

"I think it's because of the sorting," Albus said. "She wanted Gryffindor, the whole family was expecting it, and then," he trailed off, spreading his hands.

"Oh no," said Sabina. "Do her parents know?"

Albus nodded. "I told them, but apparently she won't even respond to their letters. So they owl me now, and I have to tell them what I see her doing. They're getting really worried."

"Wow!" Sabina exclaimed. "You've got to talk to her!"

"Ravenclaw really isn't that bad," Mason said.

"I know," Albus said. "But what can I do? She won't even look me in the eye."

They talked about it for a while longer, but none of them could reach any conclusions. Sabina thought that Albus should corner her after one of their lessons. Mason thought he should go to her common room, where he would have her cornered. But in the end, Albus said he would think about it; his expression wasn't hopeful though.

For the next week, Calanthe watched him for signs of having talked to Rose, but nothing changed. Sabina mentioned it to Albus once or twice, but always glossed over the subject, saying that he was working on it. They could all tell that he hadn't anything that mattered. However, something happened at the end of November that drove Albus and Rose's plight from her mind completely.

One Saturday afternoon, just before Halloween, Sabina and Calanthe were enjoying some of the last bearable weather before winter, when they saw Mason running towards them.

"Sabina," he called. "Calanthe!"

When he reached them, he panted for a few minutes before gasping, "Albus talked to her. She listened for a couple of seconds, but then," he panted, "then," they waited patiently for him to speak, "she got upset and ran off. They think she's in the forest!"

"What?" exclaimed Sabina. Everyone knew that it was madness to go into the forbidden forest, especially for first years. Who knew what kind of things lived in there!

"Yes," Mason said, nodding.

Calanthe's eyes widened. "Are they looking for her?"

Mason shrugged. "Albus hadn't found a teacher yet when he told me. He really needs our help though. He says he won't ever be able to live with himself if she, if she's…" His eyes told the rest of the story. If Rose was hurt of killed in there, Albus would never forgive himself.

"C'mon," Sabina said, tugging Calanthe's arm. Calanthe wanted very much to protest, to say that they should let the teachers do it. She wanted to remind Sabina that they had only been in school for a month and could barely perform any magic that would cause another creature a nose bleed, let alone begin to defend themselves from the creatures of the forest. She held her tongue though; something told her that this was not a moment to try to reason with Sabina.

Sabina didn't show any sign of fear as she walked into the forest. Calanthe and Mason glanced at each other before they entered the shade of the trees, although neither said a word. Both knew what the other was thinking; this was a stupid idea, they should not be walking into the forest unprotected.

They walked silently for several long minutes. The forest was eerily quiet; there were none of the sounds that no one would normally expect from a forest.

"The path splits up here," Sabina said. "We could each take one way."

Calanthe was even less happy about the prospect of splitting up. She was about to open her mouth to say something about it, when Mason nodded. He muttered to Calanthe out of the corner of his mouth, "It'll get us out of here faster."

She gave him a mistrustful look. She couldn't help wonder if all of them would get out of here in the same state they were in.

The others were already moving down their paths, all of them leading deeper into the forest. Calanthe took a deep breath and started down a path that led off to the far right. Her own breath seemed to sound extra loud in her ears. She wished there was a way to quiet it; it must be attracting the attention of every predator in the forest. She closed her eyes, attempting to calm herself, and then kept walking.

Deeper and deeper into the forest Calanthe walked. She kept her eyes open, but not once did she see any sign of the missing Rose Weasley. As she walked, though, a quality of the forest seemed to change. Could it really be getting darker? Was that lichen really glowing a soft green? The trees began to take on a slightly charred look, as though something had burned them recently. Calanthe was feeling genuinely afraid now. She was just on the point of turning back when she heard a crack just a little way down the path, and then running footsteps. Something crashed into Calanthe, panting heavily. It was wearing Hogwarts robes! For a moment Calanthe thrilled that it was Rose Weasley, that they would be able to leave the forest and that it would all be over, before she noticed that it was a boy, perhaps four years older than her. He picked himself up off of her, glowering. Calanthe noticed that his robes, too, were charged. His pale skin, too, was covered in soot. His hair was black as pitch and dirty. His eyes were dark blue. In spite of his disheveled appearance, she couldn't help thinking of how hansom he was, even though the thought surprised her.

"Who are you?" he asked forcefully. His eyes were narrowed, and he seemed angry.

"Calanthe," she said, her own face hardening.

"Where am I?"

This struck Calanthe as an odd question. He was in the forbidden forest, of course! He was wearing Hogwarts robes though, he should know that.

"Where am I?" he asked again, even more aggressively if that was possible.

"The Forbidden Forest," Calanthe said at last, although she wasn't quite sure how advisable it was to tell that to a complete stranger she had just met in the forest.

That seemed to relax him. He looked her over more carefully. "Are you a student at Hogwarts?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"A first year?" he asked.

She nodded again.

He sighed. "That would explain why I haven't seen you before." He looked around. "I'm sorry," he said, and Calanthe wondered at the transformation of his mood. It was like he was two separate people. "But I don't actually know where we are. Could you lead me back to the Castle?"

"Uh, yes," she said. She couldn't help wondering what exactly she was getting herself into. "Um, what's your name?" Maybe she had heard of him. Maybe that would put her fears of bringing him to the castle to rest, although she could hardly see how she could get back without him now anyways.

He smiled charmingly at her, "Tom Riddle."


	7. Necessary Security

**Chapter Five: Necessary Security**

_Later_

Six hours later, Calanthe was still in the Headmistress' office, a big circular room with stars painted on the ceiling. There were a total of 322 stars; Calanthe had already counted them twice waiting for Professor McGonagall to come back; she had left two hours ago when a snowy owl appeared at the window of her office holding a heavy envelope in it's beak. Calanthe hadn't seen her since.

In utter boredom, Calanthe got up off her chair and walked aimlessly about the room. She was just staring out the window when the door opened again with a loud bang that made her jump. Professor McGonagall strode into the room, followed by two tall wizards and a witch she had never seen before.

"Ah," the Professor said. "Calanthe dear, I'd like you to talk to these people about the boy you met in the forest."

Calanthe nodded, then frowned. "I will," she said, "but if you don't mind my asking, what is the big deal about this kid being in the forest? I know it's strange and against the rules for someone to be in there, but sure it isn't worth all this fuss, is it?"

The adults exchanged looks. "Well," said one of the men, who had dark hair, bright green eyes, and wore glasses said, "I'll explain, Please sit down, Calanthe." He waved his wand so that five of the office's chairs formed a circle and they could call talk normally.

Calanthe did as she was told. There was something familiar about the man, but she couldn't think where she'd seen him before until he was seated across from her and she saw his eyes again. They were exactly like Albus'.

"Are you Albus' Dad?" she asked him, startled. It was easier than asking outright if he was Harry Potter.

The man smiled. "Yes, I am," he said. "Albus had written me about you. He tells me you're quite good at charms and transfiguration."

Calanthe blushed. Albus said that? "Oh," was all she could say.

The woman smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Hermione Weasley," she said.

"Nice to meet you," Calanthe said politely. Then something occurred to her. "You're Rose's parents, aren't you?"

The woman smiled sadly. "Yes," she said.

"We'd like to thank you," her husband said, and Calanthe got the strong feeling that he wasn't used to being this formal. "For trying to find her when she ran off into the forest. If you lot hadn't done that.." his voice trailed off.

"Did they find her?" Calanthe asked. She hadn't heard. She been able to speak to any of her friends since they went into the forest. She didn't even know whether they'd made it out.

Professor McGonigall shook her head. "Yes," she said. "But she isn't talking. Which is partially why the quested we're going to ask you are so important."

"Partially?" Calanthe asked, hoping she wasn't being too rude.

Again, the adults exchanged glances.

"Well," Harry said after a moment. "Do you know who Tom Riddle is?"

Calanthe looked at him blankly. "No," she said. "Should I?"

"Not unless you'd gone into the history of the War with Voldemort," Hermione said.

Calanthe began to feel uneasy. "Who is he?" she finally asked.

"Tom Riddle," said Harry, "Was Lord Voldemort's given name. The name he discarded to become Voldemort."

Calanthe gasped. "But Voldemort's dead!" she exclaimed. She had heard enough of the terrible things he had done to be very afraid. "That kid's just calling himself by another name or something! It can't be real, can it?"

Hermione shook her head. "It is real," she said. "But how, I have no idea."

"How can you tell?" Calanthe asked, interested.

"I took a look inside his mind," Hermione said. "Same past. He even thinks it's around eighty years ago."

"Couldn't they just, um, copy the memories inside a new body though?" Calanthe asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Hermione said. "But you can't copy magical powers, and his are here. He hasn't got a wand though, which is curious." She frowned for a moment. "But still, you can see why we need you to tell us where you found him," Hermione said, leaning closer.

"It was in the forest," Calanthe said. "I can't really tell you much better than that. Unless maybe you have a map of the forest or something."

"Then you should show us," Ron said, standing up. But it was dark and Professor McGonagall said it would have to wait until morning.

"Listen," Ron said, intense. "My daughter was out there in the forest somewhere. Something happened. And you're going to keep me from finding out what?!"

"No," Professor McGonagall said calmly. "I am, however, hooping you from putting any other Hogwarts students in danger."

There was a silence in the room. Ron glanced uneasily at Calanthe. Then he sat down peaceably, although his hands gripped the arms of his chair rather harder than necessary.

"I have all the Hogwarts ghosts searching for anything unusual," Professor McGonagall said comfortingly. "But for now, I'd like to hear again exactly what happened when Calanthe went into the forest."

And so Calanthe told them about the unusual section of the woods in which she had discovered Tom Riddle.

"You're right," Professor McGonagall said at last. "We will have to see that section of the forest for ourselves tomorrow."

"In the meantime," Harry Potter said, standing up, "I need to owl my wife. I promised I would just as soon as we knew anything. Hugh and Lilly were frantic when we left."

"I wish you had some better news to send them," Professor McGonagall said, glancing at Ron and Hermione.

Ron, however, was frowning. "What are we going to do about her?" he jerked his thumb at Calanthe, "and the other students who know about Riddle? We can't have them telling anyone Voldemort's back."

"It would cause a national panic," Hermione agreed.

Calanthe looked worried; Professor McGonagall frowned. "What do you think, Albus?" she asked.

Calanthe looked around the room for her friend, but then realized that the Headmistress was addressing a portrait of an elderly man with a long silver beard and bright blue eyes which hung just above the Head's desk.

"I would like to point something else out," the Wizard said heavily, "each of the people who know that Voldemort has returned are in incredible danger, perhaps the young people most of all. Whoever discovered such a magic will doubtless wish to keep it secret. And so we must be prepared for those others to try to discover the fate of the returned Tom Riddle. The Adults, perhaps, will be able to cope. But no one should expect first years to be able to handle advanced, unknown, dark magic."

Professor McGonagall was looking more and more worried by the minute. "What do you think we should do then, Albus? Move them out of the school?"

"I would suggest, for the moment, moving them to Grimauld Place. Since we put the new protection on it, there should be very little chances of any unwanted visitors turning up."

"But that's where we're keeping Riddle!" Ron said angrily.

The Wizard called Albus nodded heavily. "Indeed. Try to keep him away from the students, won't you? Even not knowing his future and without a wand, Tom Riddle is very dangerous and should be treated with caution. I might suggest some spells to keep him from speaking with them. There is a chance he could get one of their wands."

Harry looked grim. "We'll move them as soon as possible," he said. "How many students know?" he asked.

"Seven Gryffindors, four Ravenclaws," said McGonagall. "Grimauld Place is a big house. There should be room enough to house them all, don't you think?"

Harry nodded.

"How will they keep learning, though?" Hermione asked. "We wouldn't want them to get behind on their educations."

Ron stifled a laugh.

"They're all on the basics, still," McGonagall said. "Do you think Ginny would mind teaching them? If I sent her the syllabus?"

Harry frowned. "She still works part time and St. Mungo's," he said. "She was going to start working full-time in a month." He considered for a moment. "I'll have to ask her," he said at last.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "I suppose that's the best we can do for the moment," she said. She sighed tiredly. "Calanthe, wait here just a minute. We're going to get the other students."

"What about our things?" Calanthe asked.

"I'll have them sent over sometime tonight," the Headmistress said, and she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the room.

Calanthe got up and went to look outside of the window. It was a beautiful night, peaceful, but for some reason Calanthe felt herself shivering. Something was happening in the Magical World, and she was caught up in it, for good or for worse.

Around ten minutes later, Hermione arrived with three students Calanthe knew vaguely in toe. "These are my daughter's friends," she said, answering Calanthe's questioning look. Calanthe looked them over. Two girls a boy. One of the girls, who had hair not unlike Sabina's smiled at her and stuck out her hand nervously.

"I'm Lara Crow," she said tentatively.

"I'm Kayla," said the other girl. She was tall and dark-skinned with big, mysterious eyes.

Calanthe shook her hand and introduced herself.

"Oh and he's Scorpius," Lara said, jerking his thumb at the boy. He was glancing quietly around the room. "He's really quiet, but he'll soften up in a mo, just you wait."

Calanthe grinned, and was about to share that she knew the feeling when her friends entered. Albus was in the lead after McGonagall and his father, looking worriedly around the room. When he spotted Calanthe, he led their other friends over. Mason looked slightly sleepy. Behind them were another two older students, one of whom Calanthe knew to be Albus' brother James. With him was a friend of his who Calanthe also knew to be called Jerald Towers.

Everyone started talking. Calanthe herself was just about to start telling Sabina what had happened when Professor McGonagall shot some sparks out of her wand for silence. Before long, they had all stretched out their hands to touch a Paper Weight, which Professor McGonagall had turned into something called a Portkey. Calanthe felt a sudden jerk on her stomach, and closed her eyes, feeling slightly sick. When she opened them, she could barely tell the difference between the inside of her eyelids and the swirling darkness of the room they were now in.

"Where are we?" asked one of the Ravenclaws in a small voice.

"This is the old Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," Professor McGonagall said crisply, lighting her wand. Quickly, the students followed suit. "I'll urge you not to stray very much in this house. It used to be inhabited by Dark Wizards. I'm not sure we ever cleaned out everything that was lurking in here."

All of a sudden, the sound of running feet came from a set of stairs. Several of the students gathered closer together. Then a beautiful, red-haired woman appeared, holding a lit wand.

"You're all here!" she said, rushing over to Harry Potter and kissing him briefly on the mouth. "Come on now," said Albus's mother, "I set up some of the rooms for you all." She let go of Harry and quickly hugged her two sons. Calanthe noticed a two children, a boy and a girl, behind her. They must be Albus' sister and cousin, she though.

"I'm going to leave now, Ginny," Professor McGonagall said wearily. "Your brother's just now dealing with Riddle. Should be over here soon. You've got a spot set up for him too, I trust?"

Ginny nodded. "Down in the cellar," she said. "It should be comfortable enough for him though. I've fixed it up a little, but it's still the most secure room in the house."

The headmistress looked gratefully at her. "Thank you so much," she said. And then she turned on the spot and vanished into thin air. Then Ginny turned to them, smiled. "Well," she said. "Shall we show you to your rooms?"

The lot of them followed Ginny up the stairs, unnaturally quiet. Calanthe could feel something oppressive about the house. For the first time, she wondered how long they would be forced to stay here. Until the person who had raised Tom Riddle was caught? Forever? It was so dark and gloomy here, that Calanthe didn't know if she could stand it. She couldn't help shivering.

Ginny let them strait past the first landing and onto the second, where she stopped. "We've some problems," she said, "with the linens and bedspreads here. Mice have chewed through most of them, and we'll probably have to throw them out. I'll go and buy some new ones tomorrow. In the meantime, I've put warming charms on your beds." Ginny glanced distastefully at the surrounding house. "I swear, we're going to have to clean this place up or I'll go crazy!"

A couple people laughed at that, and the atmosphere lightened a little. James and his friend moved into a room on this landing, at his mother's recommendation. She seemed to think that they might get into trouble.

On the next floor up, Albus and Mason were to share a room with Coal and Scorpius. One floor after that, Sabina and Calanthe took a room at the front of the house, while Kayla and Lara took the room across from them.

"You don't have to stay in these rooms," Ginny said just before she left them, "once we have time to clean up more of this house." And she said goodnight and went downstairs. Dimly, Calanthe could hear the sounds of adult voices from downstairs, although she couldn't hear what was being said. She didn't feel much like eavesdropping either; she and Sabina were tired, and anxious to get to bed.

"This place scares me, a little," Sabina said, pulling on her pajamas.

Calanthe nodded. "Me too. It's kind-of depressing. I hope we actually can change some of this." The grey walls of their room seemed to be sloping inwards towards them. Calanthe hoped it would look better in daylight, although her hopes weren't high. With a heavy heart, she collapsed on her bed and fell asleep.


End file.
